Archives

Dr. Arthur Ide is the owner of Dermatology, P.A. in Minneapolis, Minn. He is board certified by the American Board of Dermatology and is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Dermatology at the University of Minnesota. He currently has four children and lives in Minneapolis.

More men than women are diagnosed with AND die from skin cancer. As dermatologists, we ask ourselves why. Is this a societal issue or does it have to do with biology? What is going on here? It’s a little bit of everything, to be honest. Men are the underdogs when it comes to health and wellness.

Our best approach is to look at five key issues behind this statistic and find solutions.

1: Men contract skin cancer differently than women

In general, men and women have different relationships with the sun. Many women seek out UV rays in an aesthetic way. Roughly 8,000,000 women tan indoors when they’re younger compared to 2,000,000 men. Men are more likely to contract skin cancer following a lifetime of sun exposure while engaging in outdoor activities like swimming, fishing or golfing.

SOLUTION: Teach men young and old to care for their skin. If your internal response to that suggestion was “yeah, but how,” I get it. Teaching men to adopt healthy skin habits can be tough. We almost always recommend skin protective clothing instead of sunscreens or lotions. Arm them with the tools that will protect them even if they forget to protect themselves.

2: Men are diagnosed much later in life than women

In part because of the difference in sun habits between men and women, skin cancer diagnoses are more common for women under the age of 49, and for men over the age of 49. Because skin cancer manifests itself at a younger age in women, they will often catch it before it spreads beyond one or two basal cells. Men who are diagnosed later in life will often have accrued multiple basal cells.

SOLUTION: Don’t let men wait! Getting your skin checked by a dermatologist should become part of everyone’s routine. Parents need to teach young people to care for their bodies inside and out. Adolescents learning to check their skin today stand a much better chance of detecting skin cancer when it counts.

3: When women see something, they say something. Men, not so much

Generally, women are champions when it comes to early detection. When they notice a change in their body, they take care of it. Often when a man comes to see me they’ve been ignoring the warning signs so long they’re a bit of a train wreck. We’ll find multiple cancers. The famous line we get from men is, “It didn’t bother me”, which is often followed by, “my wife made me come”. Well sure. Skin cancer doesn’t bother you until it’s killing you. This is a key reason why men’s mortality rates are higher than women.

SOLUTION: We need more watchdogs and evangelists. One of the troubles with detecting skin cancer in men is that it’s more common on their backs. Everyone needs to enlist the help of family doctors, partners and family to detect abnormalities in men.

4: Changing habits is easier for some (women) than it is for others (men)

When a woman comes to our office and discovers she’s at risk or has basal cells, she’ll act. Men are more resistant to change. I had one patient who discovered he had four basal cells on his back on his first visit. Despite this, I still can’t get him to wear even a standard cotton shirt outside 100% of the time.

SOLUTION: I’ve found that with men it’s helpful to show, not tell them what they need. Seeing is believing. The easiest solution is to arm them with clothing that will protect them even when they forget to. Our biggest hurdle with men AND women is to shift their dependence on sunscreen to sun protective clothing. What a lot of people don’t understand is that they need a protective shield that never fades or wears away. At the very minimum, we do our best to get women to cover their head, neck and shoulders and to get men to ALWAYS have a hat on while outdoors. The upper extremities are beacons for sunlight. Sunscreen alone will NOT protect them from harmful UV rays. They must cover up.

5: Educational information isn’t reaching men and women equally

Information about skin cancer prevention and detection often falls under the heading of “beauty” or “wellness”. These aren’t categories frequently sought out by men. If I could get a sports reporter to highlight sun protection use in the stands at every game, we’d be in much better shape. We need to get better at spreading the message to everyone that needs it.

SOLUTION: Support organizations like the Melanoma Research Foundation and The Skin Cancer Foundation. Their key purpose is to educate EVERYONE about the importance of skin cancer prevention and detection. Even smaller, local organizations make a big difference in terms of educating men and women about the threat of skin cancer and how to prevent it.

You can start by giving to one of these organizations for #GivingTuesday:

About Coolibar

For nearly 20 years, Coolibar has inspired people to enjoy an active, outdoor lifestyle in the sun with the most innovative sun-safe protective UPF 50+ clothing and accessories. Our mission has never changed: to keep the world safe from sun damage, to protect those who suffer from a sun-related condition and to prevent everyone else from developing one. We can safely say get outside, we’ve got you covered.

THIS IS BRAVE

When you purchase a limited-edition “Be Brave” Shirt, all profits are donated to the Melanoma Research Foundation.